Dissertations / Theses on the topic 'Migrant worker's family'

This paper highlights the problem of migrant families in Ukraine and deals with the main characteristics of the Ukrainian population migration abroad. The research traces the evolution of the social institution of the family in Ukraine and analyzes how it is varied and in what way family relationships have changed under the impact of migration processes in modern Ukrainian society. Special emphasis is placed on the transformation of the role of grandmother in the modern Ukrainian family. The results obtained through the in-depth interview technique indicate that in the modern Ukrainian family the grandmother starts playing the role of mother for children in the family. She can participate in economic, political, social, recreational, cultural and other activities and spheres of family life. Thus, the grandmother becomes an active member of the family; she can also be one of the first agents of the childrens socialization. She influences them greatly and transmits certain values, traditions and customs to them. Thus the study permits us to specify more clearly the problems in the sphere of the migrant worker's families in the eastern part of the country and improve the overall employment and demographic situation in Ukraine today.

Domestic work in private households is, together with prostitution, the most significant employer of newly arrived female migrants. This thesis examines the phenomenon of the racialisation of paid domestic labour in the European Union, and begins to outline the challenges this poses to feminism, political theory and community organisations. At an empirical level it begins to map the employment of migrant women in domestic work in Europe, to describe the work they perform, their living and working conditions and their employment relations. At a theoretical level it is necessarily concerned with the inadequacy of conceptual tools designed to describe more "traditional" forms of employment (i.e. traditionally of concern to white male sociologists) or to describe the experience of "women" within the domestic sphere (i.e. the experience of white middle class women). The paid domestic worker, even when she does the same task as the wife/daughter/mother, is differently constructed, for she is expressing and reproducing the female employer's status by serving as her "foil". I argue that it is the worker's "personhood" rather than their labour power, which the employer is attempting to "buy". As well as labour cost and supply, racist stereotypes and the reproduction of such stereotypes are important in determining demand for domestic workers, and this results in a racist hierarchy which constructs some women as being particularly "suitable" for domestic work. Migrant domestic workers' relation to the state encourages and reinforces the racialisation of domestic work and personal dependence on employers. While the applying of employment contracts to domestic workers may seem to offer some way forward there are many difficulties associated with applying employment contracts to the private domain, both theoretically and in workers' real experiences.

Framed within the context of growing economic changes generated by globalisation in Europe and of the transition towards an increasingly service-based economy and therefore labour market restructuring, the present study investigates the intersecting lived experiences of work, family and belonging of intra-European migrant workers and their families in Rome and London. In particular the comparative examination focuses on the dynamics of mobility and work which Romanian women and men are embedded in and enact within the transnational geo-political space of the enlarged EU, as well as on the mechanisms and processes influencing their transnational mobilities. The analysis, based on a longitudinal multi-sited fieldwork conducted in two European locations – Rome and London - develops within three key institutional sites of migration: labour market, family and “community”/belonging. Within each of these, a specific process of migration is then explored: access to and participation in the labour market, transnational family formation and activities, formation and meanings of belonging/“community” in the two cities. The overall aim is to compare and provide an in-depth account of the various dimensions of Romanian migrants’ experiences in the context of different national and supranational policies, labour market realities, and socio-cultural institutions. Furthermore, the in-depth exploration, which combines narrative interviews and participant observation, provides empirically grounded insights into the existence of variables such as nationality, gender, class, historical experiences and long term individual or collective/family goals, which, together with social and immigration policies, labour market demands, work permit systems, and new geo-political openings of the European Union, are involved in and effectively influence migratory and settlement decisions and practices. As such, the study provides a valuable contribution to the empirical and theoretical advancement of studies on transnationalism in the current evolving space of the EU.

This study is about the consequences of feminised migration on migrant women workers, on their families and on the Philippine society as a whole. The continued dependence on migration and increasingly, women‘s migration, by the Philippine government to address unemployment on one hand, and by the Filipino families on the other hand, to secure employment and a better life, has led to social change: change in migrant women‘s sense of identity and personhood; restructuring of households and redefinition of families and gender relations and the rise of a culture of migration. To understand these social changes, the study focuses on the return phase of migration situated within the overall migration process and adopts a gendered and feminist approach. Existing theories of return migration cannot adequately capture the meanings of the return of migrant women workers. Studying return through a gendered approach allows us to reflect on the extent migration goals have been achieved or not, the conditions under which return takes place for a migrant woman worker and various factors affecting life after migration for the migrant women and their families. Return of the women migrant workers cannot be neatly categorised as voluntary or involuntary. It is gendered. It is involuntary, voluntary, and mainly ambivalent. Involuntary return was influenced by structural limitations arising from the temporary and contractual type of migration in jobs categorised as unskilled. Voluntary return was mainly determined by the achievement of migration goals, the psychological need to return after prolonged absence and by the need to respond to concerns of families left behind. Ambivalent return was caused by the desire to maintain the status, economic power, freedom and autonomy stemming from the migrants' breadwinning role; the need to sustain the families‘ standard of living; as well as the apprehensions of a materially insecure life back home. The socio-psychological consequences on families and children of migrant women are deep and wide-ranging. Similarly, women migrants, though empowered at a certain level, had to face psychological and emotional consequences upon return influenced by persistent gender roles and gender regimes. By analysing the impact of gendered migration and return on the societal level, the study has broadened and deepened the conceptualisation of the phenomenon of culture of migration by bringing other elements and factors such as the role of the state, human resources, sustainable livelihood, national identity and governance.

This dissertation offers an ethnographic account of "the world's largest annual human migration": the family reunion ritual practiced by hundreds of millions of Chinese rural-to-urban migrant workers, who work in cities and travel back to the countryside during the lunar New Year (the Spring Festival) to reunite with family members. The formation and practice of this ritual is situated in the particular historical moment of China's modernization when rural migrants have gained the freedom to leave the countryside but are met with difficulties in settling in the city and becoming urban citizens. Although migrant workers have contributed directly to China's burgeoning economy, without an institutionalized system that provides them security and full social rights, they experience prolonged liminality between the city and the countryside. The Spring Festival reunion offers migrant workers a once-in-a-year chance to achieve family unity, to reconnect with scattered kith and kin, and to temporarily actualize a sense of normalcy and continuity in the rural community. Drawing on theories of cultural communication, ritual, and family communication, I conceptualize the reunion ritual as a form of "lifeworld re-embedment" on China's pathway to individualization--a social process that engages in cultural resources to cope with the risks of modernity, bridging the disjuncture between the individual and the community. Built on interviews with migrant workers and participant observation of family reunions in a village in Central China, this dissertation examines the ritual forms, meanings, and functions of the reunion. I first examine the ritualization of the Spring Festival reunion at a national level, focusing on the spectacular movement of passengers during the Spring Festival travel season. I argue that the Spring Festival homecoming has transformed from a transportation issue to a pilgrimage-like national ritual, projecting an image of the collective pursuit of family cohesion and community integration. As a response to the unequal access to urban citizenship, returning to one's countryside home has also become an alternative way for migrant workers to claim their identities and to find a sense of belonging. In communicating about the family reunion, migrant workers employ culturally distinctive languages of place attachment and collectively used discourses of displacement to construct the meaning of home, separation, and unification. In addition, I explore family rituals performed during the reunion that help migrant workers reconnect with left-behind family members, fulfill family obligations, and create family unity. This study provides a more nuanced understanding of the paradoxical process of individualization in China, in which disembedded individuals have to depend on culturally bound integration provided by the institutions from which the disembedment occurs. In this process, ritual communication not only articulates the tension between the individual and the communal, but also functions as a powerful compensatory solution to the risks of family dislocation. By analyzing the Spring Festival reunion from a micro-level with a focus on how ritualized communication constructs, maintains, repairs, and changes social reality, this study also adds to the body of literature on cultural communication and family communication.

In the decade following the end of the Second World War, a mass migration of Italian workers came to the United Kingdom to be employed in Britain’s factories and mines. Amongst these, many were women. Thanks to official recruitment schemes drafted by the British and Italian governments of the time, young women left Italy in their thousands, to be employed as domestic workers or in factories, especially in the textile districts of Lancashire and Yorkshire. Here, they joined other migrants recruited through the European Volunteer Workers scheme, a government-led operation aimed at sourcing manpower from mainland Europe. The Official Italian Scheme was one of such recruitments, but one of the least investigated. The present research begins by studying the process of recruitment of young Italian women, within the wider context of Italy’s post-war emigration policies and its diplomatic relations with Great Britain. Subsequently, the research focuses on the entry of Italian women in the textile districts of Greater Manchester, Lancashire and Yorkshire and the process of their integration within British society. Finally, the thesis examines the attitudes of Catholic missionaries in Britain, the Italian expatriate community, the implications arising from mixed marriages and the formation of new multicultural families.

Адаменко, О. Ю. Особливості соціальної роботи з дистантними сім’ями : випускна кваліфікаційна робота : 231 "Соціальна робота" / О. Ю. Адаменко ; керівник роботи Т. І. Коленіченко ; НУ "Чернігівська політехніка", кафедра соціальної роботи. – Чернігів, 2021. – 113 с.
Магістерська робота присвячена висвітленню проблематики особливостей соціальної роботи з дистантними сім’ями в Україні, а також дослідженню специфіки психологічного клімату даних сімей, завдяки виокремленим відповідно критеріям, рівням та показникам. На сьогодні ми можемо стверджувати, що кількість дистантних сімей в Україні тільки збільшується, а їх ґрунтовне дослідження знаходиться все ще на низькому рівні. Це в свою чергу ускладнює становище таких родини, оскільки в більшій мірі вони не являються психологічно підготовленими як до переходу з традиційної сім’ї в дистантну, так і до можливих наслідків, спричинених тривалою територіальною відстанню між членами родини. В такому разі деталізоване дослідження психологічного клімату дистантних сімей надає змогу розкрити специфіку функціонування таких родин і на основі цього розробити актуальні методичні рекомендації для працівників соціальної сфери, задля підтримки членів дистантних сімей. У першому розділі кваліфікаційної роботи проаналізовано теоретичне підґрунтя проблематики дистантних сімей, детально окреслено їх соціальнопсихологічні особливості, а також фактори виникнення дистантних сімей в Україні. У другому розділі викладено реалізоване емпіричне дослідження психологічного клімату дистантних сімей. І як наслідок, визначено критерії, рівні та показники психологічного клімату, обґрунтовано заключні результати та висновки дослідження. У третьому розділі розроблено методичні рекомендації для працівників соціальної сфери, які працюють з дистантними сім’ями, взявши за основу результати другого етапу емпіричного дослідження «Експертне опитування щодо можливих рекомендацій по наданню допомоги дистантним сім’ям». Особлива увага приділена профілактичній роботі з членами дистантних сімей при переході традиційної сім’ї в дистантну.
The master's thesis is devoted to the problems of social work with distant families in Ukraine, as well as the study of the specifics of the psychological climate of these families, in accordance with the selected criteria, levels and indicators. Today, we can say that the number of distant families in Ukraine is only increasing, and their thorough research is still low. This, in turn, complicates the situation of such families, as they are more or less psychologically unprepared for the transition from a traditional family to a distant one, as well as to the possible consequences of long-term territorial distance between family members. In this case, a detailed study of the psychological climate of distant families provides an opportunity to reveal the specifics of the functioning of such families and on this basis to develop relevant guidelines for social workers to support members of distant families. The first chapter of the qualification work analyzes the theoretical basis of the problem of distant families, outlines in detail their socio-psychological characteristics, as well as the factors of distant families in Ukraine. The second chapter presents an implemented empirical study of the psychological climate of distant families. As a result, the criteria, levels and indicators of the psychological climate are determined, the final results and conclusions of the study are substantiated. The third chapter develops guidelines for social workers working with distant families, based on the results of the second phase of the empirical study "Expert survey on possible recommendations for providing assistance to distant families." Particular attention is paid to preventive work with members of distant families in the transition from a traditional family to a distant one.

About 45% of China’s roughly 145 million floating migrant population works in the manufacturing industry, and the majority of them were born after 1980. This was a landmark year for the country as it transform from a socialist, centralized and planned economy to a more or less market-oriented economy with so-called “Chinese characteristics.” The intersection of this new generation of migrant workers and the global market through the medium of manufacturing has become a subject of great interest to people around the world and in China, who seek to understand their unique personal and work arenas. This paper provides a comprehensive picture of the young migrant workers’ work and lives in a factory setting based on survey and in-depth interview data collected in a medium-size Shenzhen-based electronics factory in May 2010. It explores their social expectations and suffering; their satisfactions and dissatisfactions as production-line workers; and their future goals. The findings show that the new generation migrant workers migrate more out of individual preferences than family needs. They are primarily leaving home to seek independence more than economic returns, and they perceive factory work as the first stop on a long journey of establishing themselves in society. If Leaving, Remitting and Returning are the three key words that categorize the old generation of migrant workers who were born before 1980, then Leaving, Searching and Becoming are the main themes for the new generation who were born after 1980. Like their parents’ generation, they are transient in nature, but more in the sense of juggling between career choices rather than round-tripping between rural home and urban work.

碩士
國立成功大學
創意產業設計研究所
101
Transnational labor migration has always been a part of Philippine historic and economic landscape. Affected Filipino families managed to maintain familial ties through transnational family communication in its myriad form. In the past twenty years, forces of globalization and rapidly evolving mobile communication technologies necessitate the reexamination of the subject because the complexities that new mobilities brought about require a lens that is interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary. The data gathering was approached through user experience research in order to capture the immediate transnational family communication instances. This research attempts to answer how transnational Filipino families, from the perspective of temporarily contracted Filipino factory workers in Tainan, communicate with each other using the mobile phone. The data gathered validated previous research on mobile communication and connected presence but it also distilled concepts within transnational labor migration and family communication contexts such as the dichotomy of the experience, the reinterpretation of familial roles among family members, the notion of social multitasking in connected presence, and the demarcations of shared living spaces. Apparently an exploratory research, this study hopes to serve as takeoff points for future researches that elaborate on abovementioned concepts.

M.A.
Child migration in society today appears to be escalating at a very high rate. The influx of child migrants has put an enormous strain to social workers in terms of rendering family preservation and reunification services. In most cases families are not available to enable social workers to render family preservation and reunification services. International Social Services (ISS) assist in tracing families of across the border child migrants but the service does not extend beyond reunifying the child with family. There are no monitoring and tracking systems to prevent the child from migrating again. The aim of this study is to identify and describe the challenges faced by social workers in rendering family preservation and reunification services to child migrants. The objectives of the study are as follows: to conduct a literature study on family preservation and reunification services and the child migrant; to determine social workers’ strategies used in family preservation and reunification services to child migrants, and the challenges they are experiencing; to obtain social workers’ views on effective strategies that can be implemented in rendering family preservation and reunification services to child migrants and to make recommendations that will assist social workers in rendering family preservation and reunification services. A qualitative study of two focus groups consisting of 15 social workers each from Department of Social Development Johannesburg Region was conducted. The research findings revealed the need of coming up with strategies for family preservation and reunification services to child migrants. Presently social workers have no strategies but processes only.

碩士
國立成功大學
公共衛生研究所
105
Objectives: 1) To identify factors associated with hiring of the MCW by family caregiver of elderly with dementia. 2) To assess the impact of hiring the MCW on the burden of family caregivers of elderly with dementia. We used one-year follow up data of 279 dementia patients recruited from a dementia clinic at a medical center in a southern city of Taiwan. For aim 1, patient and caregiver characteristics in wave 1 were used to predict the employment of the MCW in wave 2 by a logistic regression. For aim 2, the impact of continuous employment of hiring the MCW for both waves on the burden of family caregiver were analyzed by random effects model. Logistic regression results showed that patients in older age (85+) or with lower Barthel index (≦60) in wave1 were more likely to hire a MCW in wave 2. Random effects model results showed that the burdens of family caregivers among those who continued to hire a MCW and those who did not were not significantly different.

The main question posed in this study is: How do black mineworkers in the goldmining industry conceptualise and experience fatherhood in present-day South Africa? The following four subsidiary research questions were formulated to address this: * How do the respondents characterise fatherhood? * What are the respondents' own recollections of being fathered? * How do migrant and resident respondents' experiences of fatherhood differ? * What influence do biological mothers or female partners have on father-child relationships as described by the respondents? The scripting perspective chosen underscores this study because it is a multilevel approach that takes the fathers' social milieu into account without ignoring their agency. This perspective focuses on three levels - cultural scenarios, interpersonal and intrapsychic scripting. During 2002 a qualitative study was undertaken by way of in-depth interviews conducted with 30 respondents, with ten being re-interviewed in 2003. These interviews were augmented with general observations and fact-finding interviews conducted with key informants. In terms of the first research question regarding the way in which the respondents characterise fatherhood, it was found that the breadwinner role is salient. However, traces of patriarchy and the so-called "new fatherhood" are often intertwined with the economic aspect of fatherhood. The respondents' own recollections of being fathered were found to include a stern disciplinarian pattern ("father is like a lion"), a "bad fatherhood" pattern and a "good fatherhood" pattern. Resident respondents related more involvement with their children compared with migrant respondents, although varying degrees of distant and involved fatherhood could be detected amongst the migrant respondents. Resident respondents conveyed active involvement in father-child activities such as giving guidance to children and playing with them. Some respondents have little contact with those children they fathered with a woman other than their current partner. Female partners tend to hinder any type of relationship with children born as a result of adulterous relationships but children born from previous relationships may be taken care of. However, respondents who openly stated double standards regarding sexual practices for men and women tend to take care of all their biological children and show little concern for their wives' views.
Sociology
D. Litt et Phil (Sociology)

碩士
國立陽明大學
國際衛生碩士學位學程
104
Background: Ever since Taiwan has undergone rapid economic development and this has created a labor shortage in the “lower skilled” sector, there has been an increasing demand for foreign workers to fill labor gaps. The major suppliers are the neighboring countries, one of which is Indonesia. While the physical health of migrant workers is well monitored and screened, the mental health of workers is largely neglected and poor mental health may have negative influences on both work performance and physical health. The purpose of this study is to provide quantitative evidence on the prevalence of mental health status among Indonesian migrant workers in Taiwan and explore the factors from personal, family and work environment aspects that might be associated with mental health status in this population. Methods: A cross-sectional survey was conducted with a self-completion questionnaire which; includes socio-demographic and work characteristics, along with the Hopkins Symptoms Checklist-25 (HSCL-25), a measurement of psychological distress. This was done as a convenience sample of Indonesian migrant workers from different places in Taiwan. Two hundred and fifty one workers completed the questionnaire. Results: The mean age of the workers was 29 ± 6.5 years with an age range between 19-47 years. Female participants accounted for about 72 per cent of the sample and more than half of the samples were married (51%). The mean duration of school was 10.4 years and care sector comprises the most number of study participants (N=175). Using HSCL-25 score 1,75 as a cut-off, 41 participants (16%) reported high level of mental distress. Married workers were less likely to have poor mental health status. On the other hand, lack of contact with family members and un-accommodated religious practice were associated with more depressive and anxiety symptoms. Conclusion: This results are such that consideration are needed to ensure accommodations provided by workplaces for foreign migrant workers and secure the rights to get a hold of a means of communication as a way of providing the feeling of contentment obtained from continuing bonds and support from the family.

Despite evidence that suggests that nurses migrate to Ontario through the Live-in Caregiver Program, no research has been conducted on this group of nurses in Ontario. This study addresses that gap utilizing the transnational feminist concept of “global care chains” in a single holistic case study design to explore the experience of nurses who migrate to Ontario through the Live-in Caregiver Program (2001-2011), and examine the diverse perspectives of stakeholders on issues of rights and obligations of these nurses. Fifteen live-in caregivers and nine policy stakeholders were interviewed, and an analysis undertaken of immigration and nursing policy documents. Findings indicate that familial discourses and perspectives on global social status shape these women’s decision to migrate from the Philippines to Canada, often via a second country (especially Saudi Arabia), as well as their subsequent Canadian experiences. Results are consistent with Rhacel Parrenas’ idea of ‘contradictory class mobility’ that describes the phenomenon of decrease in social status coupled with an increase in financial status among immigrant care workers. As professional women undertaking unskilled work, the nurses’ contradictory class status was reinforced by the emotional labour and domestic work they were required to perform. Furthermore, as temporary workers on a path to permanent residency, their professional integration as nurses was complicated by Canada’s immigration policy and the paradox between the government’s stated short-term goal (to address labour force shortage of live-in caregivers) versus its long-term goal (to ensure the integration of permanent residents). Within this policy paradox immigration policy makers emphasized the short-term obligation of fulfilling labour needs, while live-in caregivers and advocacy groups emphasized the long-term obligations of the Canadian government related to gaining permanent residence status. The lack of congruence between the Live-in Caregiver Program policy and nursing policy concerning internationally educated nurses, as well as prioritization of their familial obligations complicated the process of professional integration for this group of women. Recommendations arising from the study concern the need to bridge these policy gaps and address the shortcomings of the Live-in Caregiver Program to leverage the integration of this group of internationally educated nurses in Canada.